Quotes on Leadership

Trust is the glue in relationships and organizations

Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back upon himself.

When you meet someone better than yourself, turn your thoughts to becoming his equal. When you meet someone not as good as you are, look within and examine your own self.

Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position.

Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or we grow weak, and at last some crisis shows us what we have become.

Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.

...in the words of Max DePree: "Management has a lot to do with answers. But leadership is a function of questions. And the first question for a leader always is: 'Who do we intend to be?' Not 'What are we going to do?' but 'Who do we intend to be?'"

A leader will find it difficult to articulate a coherent vision unless it expresses his core values, his basic identity...one must first embark on the formidable journey of self-discovery in order to create a vision with authentic soul.

There is no such thing as a perfect leader either in the past or present, in China or elsewhere. If there is one, he is only pretending, like a pig inserting scallions into its nose in an effort to look like an elephant.

Leadership, like swimming, cannot be learned by reading about it.

If we learned to walk and talk the way we learn to read and write, everyone would limp and stutter.

The problems that exist in this world can not be solved by the level of thinking that created them.

Ideals survive through change. They die through inertia in the face of challenge.

People don't mind being challenged to do better if they _x000D_ _x000D_ know the request is coming from a caring heart

Courage is the enforcing virtue, the one that makes possible all the other virtues common _x000D_ _x000D_ to exceptional leaders: honesty, integrity, confidence, compassion and humility

A leader's job is to look into the future and see the organization, not as it is, but as it should be

Leadership must first and foremost meet the needs of others.

I think that the best training a top manager can be engaged in is management by example. I want to make sure there is no discrepancy between what we say and what we do. If you preach accountability and then promote somebody with bad results, it doesn't work. I personally believe the best training is management by example. Don't believe what I say. Believe what I do.

In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.

Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.

Those who try to lead the people can only do so by following the mob.